Language Note

Here's something to think about. First, there is an actual word in Chinese for "the day after tomorrow." It is houtian. There is also a word for "the day before yesterday." It is qianbian. This is the only language I am aware of that has specific words for these concepts. But this is not the interesting thing. The interesting thing is that the word fo the day that is in the future, that is, the day after tomorrow, is the same word for what is behind. The idea here is that we cannot see what is in back of us, just as we cannot see the future. Conversely, the word for the day before yesterday, that is, the notion of something in the past, is the same word as the word for what is in front of us. The thinking here is that just as we can see what is in front of us, so we can see the past. This is the opposite of what we would expect. We would expect the word that refers to what is"behind" us to be the word for the past, just as we would expect the word for what is "in front" of us to be the word for the future. But it is the exact opposite. Nothing is as it seems.